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By Gray N. B, Grimsey E. J

A steady state heat and mass balance simulation of the Western Mining Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter (KNS) flowsheet was developed within the framework of the commercial software METSIM. The KNS simulation can achieve all plant setpoints through the adjustment of controlled process inputs, and provides a useful tool for the evaluation of the current flowsheet and potential flowsheet developments The simulation model and a number of applications are discussed in this paper.

Jan 1, 1991

This paper is written as a supplement to that of Edwards, Baker and Knight on "The Geology of the Wonthaggi Coalfield" 1, the West Area pit being in an early developmental stage at the time of their paper. The thin seams to the west of Dudley Basin 2 had beenknown for many years but it was not until 1935 that it became necessary to work them. The West Area Pit came into production as Dudley Area Pit approached exhaustion in 1937. From available information it was estimated that early work would be in a 36in. bottom seam. The present top seam was not included in the reserves, but it was to be extracted where it proved thick enough for economical working.THE SEAMSEdwards, Baker and :Knight (1944) had insufficient information to correlate positively the West Area seams with those in the Dudley Basin. Their opinion was, however, that they were a westerly extension of the Bottom Seam. Since then the driving of the present north-east heading towards No. 4 Bench McBride Tunnel has established that the West Area seams are those worked as Bottom Seam in the Dudley Basin. West Area Top Seam is a seam that occurred above the Bottom Seam in the Dudley Basin. Only sporadic attempts have been made to work it in Central Area, because 30in. was considered an economic minimum height until recent times. This seam should not be confused with Top Seam, Dudley Basin, which lies some 300ft. above the bottom seam measures and except in isolated areas over deeper workings has been eroded away in West Area.

Jan 1, 1953

By Renwick MT

Two innovative ground reinforcement products have been developed for use in the mining industry. One of these products is a high strength polyethylene (HOPE) bar for use as a rib bolt in underground coal mining and as a corrosion proof tendon in open pit mines. The other product is a cable bolt (Ultrastrand) which demonstrates enhanced load transfer and is available in continuous lengths. Ultrastrand's exceptional in- situ performance and versatility makes it ideal for mechanised installation in both underground and surface mining operations. Details of these products are presented and results from labortaory and field trials are discussed.

Jan 1, 1992

By D S Wallis

Northern Australia leads in world-class mineral deposits' is a bold statement. First there must be a starting point. Land north of the Tropic of Capricorn (23¦ 26' 5") will be regarded as Northern Australia covering nearly 40 per cent of the land surface of Australia. As opposed to land south of the Tropic of Capricorn, it should be regarded as Tropical Northern Australia and for the sake of brevity, (TNA) Refer Figure 1. Apart from the tyranny of distance from centres of power and population in the temperate zone, it suffered in the past from the belief that the tropics are unsuited for European workers and from the lack of infrastructure. Outstanding mineral deposits of iron, base metals, gold and diamonds, discovered and developed in the past three decades, provided the substance for the title. There are many world-class mines producing and there are mineral deposits neutralised through Government policy. TNA can maintain its lead in world-class mineral deposits provided Government policy will stop partitioning the land and decreasing that available for exploration. Let's look at what we have that is world-class. In Western TNA iron ore deposits at Paraburdoo, Mt Tom Price, Marandoo, gold at Telfer, diamonds at Argyle. In central TNA uranium at Ranger and Jabiluka, lead-zinc-silver at McArthur River, gold at the Tanami, manganese at Groote Eylandt and bauxite at Gove. In eastern TNA Mt Isa, Hilton, Century zinc-lead, bauxite at Weipa, gold at Kidston, Mt Leyshon, magnesite at Yamba and coal mines in the Bowen Basin. Those mines or deposits stand out yet are only an indication of the numerous lesser mines and of mineral deposits depending for development on market demand and/or changes in Government policy, eg 'The Three Mines' policy. Very large areas of mineral rich structures in the western, central and eastern parts of TNA are concealed below flat lying comparatively young unmineralised sediments. The Great Artisan basin sediments in eastern TNA can and do host oil shale and non metallic minerals. Nearly 40 per cent of western TNA is covered by the Great Sandy Desert. The Canning Track, with a series of 54 wells, was constructed by surveyor Alfred Canning in 1908 - 1910 with great difficulty. It extends 1700 kilometres from Halls Creek in the north to the gold town of Wiluna in the south, through the Great and Little Sandy Deserts. Gold explorers are following favourable structures extending to the north east below the sediments and sand hills covering the track. Half of central TNA's mineral structures are concealed by the Tanami desert and the Cretaceous sediments covering the pastoral regions of the Barkly Tableland and the Daly Waters to Top Springs pastoral areas. The Georgina Basin in the south eastern section is part of the concealment.

Jan 1, 1994

By Gardner H. J, Wadsley m. W

Bauxite from the Weipa and Andoom (North Queensland) deposits was treated to provide a low-iron raw material for high- alumina refractories or aluminium chloride manufacture. The operation involved passing crushed, calcined bauxite continuously through a single laboratory shaft furnace. Consecutive sulfidation and chlorination of the iron minerals within the furnace resulted in a beneficiate containing less than 2% (wt.) Fe203 and by-product ferric chloride con- taining only traces of aluminium.

Jan 1, 1979

The design of a sand pump is similar in principle to that of a water pump but differs in several areas. Results of experiments on sand pump performance have been summarized and values of design parameters quoted for optimum results. Typical performance data are also Included.

Jan 1, 1973

By Walters GW

A countercurrent method of metal refining using crystallization and reflux is discussed. 4n account is given of the development of this technique for the separation of silver and bismuth from lead using bench-scale studies to the present small pilot-plant unit (around one tonne per day) in the "Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO)" Division of Chemical Engineering.

Jan 1, 1975

By Perring CS, Hill RE, Barnes SJ, Vallance SA

The Maggie Hays nickel sulphide deposit is located at latitude 32¦ 15 'S, longitude 120¦ 30' E on the Lake Johnston (SI 51-1) 1:250 000 map sheet. The deposit occurs in the Lake Johnston greenstone belt, in the Southern Cross Province of the Archaean Yilgarn Block, 500 kilometres east of Perth, Western Australia (Figure 1). The remoteness of the Lake Johnston greenstone belt and its poor access, restricted previous exploration activities and the full appreciation of the geology and its Ni-sulphide potential. It was not until 1991, when Forrestania Gold NL commenced exploration activities, that the geology of the ultramafic units and their potential to host significant concentrations of Ni sulphides were clearly established. This paper, which describes the geology and the characteristics of the Maggie Hays deposit, is based on the results of exploration by Forrestania Gold NL and a collaborative research agreement between CSIRO Division of Exploration and Mining and Forrestania Gold as reported by Perring, Barnes and Hill (1994), Perring and Hill (1995), Perring (1995 a and b) and Barnes, Perring and Reilly (1995). A comprehensive description of the geology, petrology and geochemistry of the deposit is being prepared for publication by CSIRO (Pemng, Hill and Barnes, in press).

Jan 1, 1996

Geological. engineering is a field of engineering practice concerned with design and construction of excavations and structures in soil and rock masses. The role of geological engineering in mining practice is defined in this paper, and the scope of the various disciplines in engineering science and geoscience which support geo-engineering research is discussed. The current national research capacity in geo-engineering is considered, and current and future needs for geo-engineering research for mining practice are proposed. Education programmes to sustain the proposed level of research and its industrial implementation are Suggested.

Jan 1, 1986

The Blackwater Coal Mine is a modern open cut operation using large draglines for over- :)urden removal and shovels, loaders and trucks to mine and haul coal to the crushing and coal ?reparation plant. Operations at the mine are described in sequence following through overburden removal to the railing of product coal from the mine site. The close operating connection between the mine and washery, which results from the blending of raw coal into clean product via the qashplant bypass system, is stressed. Some features of special interest at Blackwater Mine, such as land reclamation and slope stability,are outlined.

Jan 1, 1974

By Preston JC, Richards DJ

A multicommodity exploration programme was mounted in the 1970s by CRA Exploration Pty. Limited over a major part of the southern Murray Basin in Victoria. Commodities sought were brown and black coal, gold, uranium, diamonds, titanium and zirconium rich heavy minerals, and base metals. An area of 40 000 km2 was held under exploration licences by the Company. Exploration techniques used were literature research, airborne magnetics and gamma ray spectrometry, drilling, and geophysical well logging. Targets were defined in both the Tertiary basin sediments and the underlying Palaeozoic sedimentary and igneous rocks. Although exploration is continuing, large resources of brown coal and low grade titanium rich heavy minerals have already been discovered. Exploration for uranium was abandoned in accordance with statutory requirements. The search for significant resources of the other commodities has not been successful.

Jan 1, 1986

By Palmer G, Dennis R, Clark A

The Ravenswood Mine in North Queensland is the first gold mine developed by Carpentaria Gold Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of MIM Holdings Ltd. Carpentaria Exploration Pty Ltd began exploration at Ravenswood in 1978. However initial exploration of the main gold producing area (Buck Reef East) commenced in March 1987 when exploration rights to four key leases were secured. A rapid, co-ordinated exploration and development program produced gold from a heap leach operation nine months after the first costeans were dug at Buck Reef East. To treat higher grade ore found at depth in the Buck Reef East pit and the metallurgically more difficult Buck Reef West ore, a carbon in pulp plant was commissioned in May 1988. The mine is currently producing at a rate of approximately 40 000 ounces of gold per year. Ore at Ravenswood is hosted by hydrothermally altered diorites and tonalites of the Ravenswood Granodiorite complex. Alteration is controlled by planes of permeability formed by joints, shear zones and dilational breccias. The complex orebody geometry resulting from these controls required very detailed surface and drill exploration for adequate definition. Carpentaria's need for early cash flow meant that economic, mining and metallurgical considerations governed choices of exploration techniques, program timing, material and data collected. The initial reserve of 1.1 mt @ 2.87 g/t Au was defined by sectional polygonal methods. Grade control is based on geologic mapping and blast hole or channel sample assays. Ore is batched through the crusher and sampled to monitor grade control and mining performance. Minimal dilution has occurred. Gold content is greater than predicted by the reserve. Sprinkling of heaps commenced in November 1987. Changes have been made to the pad design and to the method of heap construction. Heap leach ore is treated at a rate of 400 000 tpa.

Jan 1, 1989

Au airway hteat and moisture exchange .,Jgorithm is described which is generalised to suit most mining situations and can be run separately on a microcomputer or used within a network simulation. The main difference between this technique and other simplified methods is that a non-uniform boundary condition is allowed for. This permits radiative heat transfer between surfaces of different wetness in addition to evaporative and convective heat and mass transfer.

Jan 1, 1988

By Yates M. G, Rowlands A. T

Most geostatistical techniques applied to the estimation of ore reserves assume relatively unifonn grade and thickness within an ore deposit environment. In shear-hosted mineralisation this rarely occurs. The distribution of mineralisation is controlled by the kinematic and geometric variation within the shear zone. Although the kinematic variation is dependent primarily on the temperature (and consequently the depth) of formation of the deposit, the geometric variation appears to be relatively insensitive to this parameter. Shoot mineralisation is controlled either by the intersection of secoodary shear planes (brittle deformation) or the stretching lineation of the mylonitic fabric (ductile defonnation).Once the shear geometry is clearly identified, it is critical to review the distribution of grade and thickness of mineralisation. The practice of cutting high-grade intersections without reference to the shear model leads to underestimation of the amount of gold in the deposit. High-grade shoots may occur as pipe-shaped bodies within the system; their identification is essential for both resource estimation and mine planning purposes.

Jan 1, 1991

During the past 18 months a rock mechanics project has been in operation at Renison Limited. The project was established to identify and investigate key problem areas that would affect future production at the Renison mine. An in-house approach was adopted, using shall compact equignent, to investigate ground behaviour. Information on the rock stress field was considered to be particularly important for an understanding of ground behaviour. A high horizontal stress component exists, which enables large flat dipping spans of hanging wall to be opened up, with support being provided by post pillars. The amount of support provided by these post pillars has been found to be low.

Jan 1, 1982

By McGill RA

The Ranger Uranium Mine is surrounded by a World Heritage National Park. The strict environmental controls under which the mine operates are based on scientific and social requirements. Release of non-process storm runoff water to the Magela Creek during flood discharge and under controlled conditions has been identified as Best Practicable Technology for the operation of the water management system. Social and political factors have limited this release to a wet season with an Annual Exceedance Probability of one in ten. The first-generation trigger mechanism was based on a percentile analysis of monthly rainfall. The second-generation trigger is based on cumulative monthly volume increase in the retention ponds and is considered to be more applicable to the operation of the mine water management system.

Jan 1, 1988

By Kametani H

Since pyrite is a semiconductor, the relationship between the leaching rate and the semiconducting properties is of interest. In order to investigate this relationship, a pyrite concentrate (95% FeS2) was oxidized at 90¦C (363 K) in an acid solution containing 100 g/dm3 H2SO4 and 1.0 to 25.1 g/dm3 total Fe. The suspension potential (Pt vs. SCE) was maintained at the desired values, within the range 0.40 to 0.70 V, by controlled additions of a KMn04 solution during leaching. The results were analyzed using a simplified kinetic expression. The rate constant was independent of the Fe concentration, while it increased with suspension potential. Partly oxidized samples were then prepared at varying fractions of reaction. After removing the elemental sulphur formed, they underwent thermoelectric power measurements using a packed bed lying in a temperature gradient. The value of thermo- electric power increased from about 0 to 30 pV/K in the early stages of oxidation. The results obtained are compared with those for chalco- pyrite reported in a previous paper.

Jan 1, 1987

By Kavetsky A, Scott A

As well as breaking and moving rock, blast energy sets up a seismic wave in the ground which can cause significant damage to rock structures and buildings and disturbance to human occupants. This seismic ground vibration is potentially most damaging when its dominant frequency coincides with the resonant frequency of a structure, leading to high amplification factors between the input ground vibration and the resulting structural response. This paper outlines methods of identifying the resonant frequency of structures. It also describes a practical numerical method for the modification of blast designs to reduce the ground vibration energy in critical frequency ranges. The method is illustrated with two recent case studies.

Jan 1, 1990

Thermal Processing of Petroleum Fly Ash for Vanadium Recovery

Sep 13, 2010

By J Johansson, J Lööw

Attractive mining workplaces are good, safe and healthy environments. They are also workplaces that the workforce of the future wants to work in. As skilled miners and engineers are already scarce, this is important both for today and for the future. However, the future of mining will also be subject to increased international competition. In attempting to become more competitive, many mining companies turn to rationalisation, looking to both rationalise their production and organisation as well as optimise their processes. Work organisation is important in both rationalisation and providing attractive mining work. As a result, this paper investigates a ‘lean production’ (LP) philosophy for the organisation of future mines. The aim of the paper is to investigate to what extent LP can be used to organise for attractive mining. It first defines what attractive mining work is and to what degree it can be influenced by work organisation. A short insight into the LP concept will be given as well as a review of how it is discussed and utilised in mining today. In conclusion, a summary of LP’s potential to realise future attractive mining is given.CITATION:Lööw, J and Johansson, J, 2015. Work organisation for attractive mining – lean mining and the working environment, in Proceedings Third International Future Mining Conference, pp 197–204 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 4, 2015